History Literature / TheScarletLetter

* FramingDevice

** EvilMakesYouUgly: Dimmesdale becomes less and less healthy, and thus less beautiful, as he descends into madness due to not confessing his sin. Chillingworth is ugly at the start, and becomes hideous by the end.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Dimmesdale's speech to Hester in the first chapter.

-->'''Hester:''' "Hast thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul?"\\
'''Chillingworth:''' ''[[EvilGrin (smiles)]]'' "Not thy soul... No, not thine!"

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: {{Played with}}. Hester is at her most beautiful when she's at her best spiritually. The ugliest of the [[GossipyHens gossipy women]] is the most merciless (and it’s likely that her being so merciless is the result of [[GreenEyedMonster jealousy that Hester was so beautiful]].) Dimmesdale becomes less and less healthy, and thus less beautiful, as he descends into madness. Chillingworth is ugly at the start, and becomes hideous by the end.

* {{Forgiveness}}: Chillingworth forgives Hester, even saying that it is mostly his own fault and he may well be right. Her accomplice, however, is a completely different matter...

%%* FramingDevice

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: {{Played with}}. Hester is at her most beautiful when she's at her best spiritually. The ugliest of the [[GossipyHens gossipy women]] is the most merciless. Dimmesdale becomes less and less healthy, and thus less beautiful, as he descends into madness. Chillingworth is ugly at the start, and becomes hideous by the end.

* {{Forgiveness}}: Chillingworth forgives Hester, even saying that it is mostly his own fault. Her accomplice, however, is a completely different matter...

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9780143105442_2773.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300: ''[[GuiltComplex She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom.]]'']]

* AuthorVocabularyCalendar: "Ignominy," "ignominious". TO be fair, this was written in the 19th century.

''The Scarlet Letter'' is an 1850 romance written by 19th-century American author Creator/NathanielHawthorne. Among its adaptations, there are [[Film/TheScarletLetter1926 a 1926 silent movie]] starring Creator/LillianGish, and [[Film/TheScarletLetter1995 a 1995 film]] starring Creator/DemiMoore.

''The Scarlet Letter'' is an 1850 romance written by 19th-century American author Creator/NathanielHawthorne. Among its adaptations, there are a silent movie in 1926 starring Creator/LillianGish, and a 1995 film starring Creator/DemiMoore.

** "[[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness Behold, verily,]] there is the woman of the scarlet letter; and of a truth, moreover, there is the likeness of the scarlet letter running along by her side! Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!"
----
!!Tropes found in the 1926 film:

* EarTrumpet: A throwaway gag has three men in a row in church using these to listen to gossip about Hester Prynne.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Hester is established in her first scene as a very un-Puritan free spirit, wearing a white dress as opposed to the black Puritan garb, chasing a bird around.
* InstantIllness: Pearl becomes deathly ill within the span of a single afternoon.

* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: {{Zigzagged}} between these opposites. Hester is made an social outcast for her sin of adultery, but she's not executed because with her husband missing for years she was virtually a widow and the judges understand that a young and lonely woman can be easily tempted. On the other side, her husband does not hold it against her for the aforementioned reason, and because they were a mismatched couple.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9780143105442_2773.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''[[GuiltComplex She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom.]]'']]

''The Scarlet Letter'' is an 1850 romance written by 19th-century American author Creator/NathanielHawthorne. Among its adaptations, there are a silent movie in 1926 with Creator/LillianGish, and a 1995 film with Creator/DemiMoore cast as Hester.

* AffairBlameTheBastard: Defied. While Chillingworth wants revenge for the affair, he makes it clear that he won't be going after Pearl, since it wasn't her fault for being the result of it. [[spoiler: When he does in the last chapter he leaves all his properties to his stepchild, making her an heiress.]]

* EvilMakeover: Chillingworth makes an apparent transformation after Hester's cheating on him.

!This book contains examples of:

* YourCheatingHeart: Hester was already married when she slept with Dimmesdale. The husband later shows up and finds out, and the plot unfolds from there.